• Fadtastic’s Andrew Faulkner has a great post on how to ‘Get out of a creative Slump’. We all have slumps and there’s some solid advice here.
• With lots of how to articles online it’s interesting to see this Freelance Switch post on How NOT to Get Freelance Work
• A List Apart has a good post on Walking the Line When You Work from Home
• The past few weeks escaping anything about the iPhone is a hard task indeed. I will write this week about my thoughts on it but for now over at 43 Folders there is a post about iPhone Apps I’d Totally Buy
• Dr Horrible: I’ve been a long time watcher of most things Joss Whedon does and this 3 part web only series didn’t fail my anticipation of goodness. Be warned you’ll probably end up humming the cheesy goodness that are the songs for a while after watching.

My first words were ‘wow’. Ok, it may be an indication of how mundane my week was at that point that such a thing did make me go wow. All joking aside, to see a service actually taking the time to send a thank you card with nothing more than a nice message from ‘Tim the developer’ saying thanks for using their service; well it’s a rare thing indeed.

Going beyond expectations

My usual expectation of a service is that it works, plain and simply anything above that I usually don’t bother to wish would happen as often it’s just not worth it. We’d all like to feel we’re a valued customer but in this faceless day and age that doesn’t happen very much. Just like everyone else I usually settle for the service billing me correctly and not breaking down. It’s like we’ve all become desensitised to bad customer service. Even when things do break the margin we ‘grin and bear’ things about is just plain huge. The glee that I felt from this card from wufoo really only goes to show that in business if you do bother to go the extra mile you stand out a mile.

Cynical head on but not winning

I can hear a few cynical voices and one of them is in my head at this point about how this is a clever marketing ploy. You know what, I don’t really care if it is. The warm fuzzy little feeling I got from this hand made rhino sticker card is a rare thing in this world. If their service was bad then maybe yes I would have more of a hmmm marketing alarm going off. Wufoo though has always been a great service for me and this kind of personal touch tops off a great experience with them. It’s all too common to get treated like a number and not being treated that way really brightened me up. Wufoo’s approach should be taken by far more services. It is just nice to feel wanted by a service for once.

Final word to wufoo

I’d like to thank Tim and the team at wufoo for the card and undeniably flawless service they have given me over while now I’ve used them. In the note it said:

Users like you helps us achieve our dreams and we won’t ever forget that.

Well, wufoo I won’t ever forget the fact that you sent me the card and actually bothered compared to the numerous services I use that quite frankly couldn’t give a fluff if I used them or not. Yay to wufoo.

Potters know what clay is.

It is an obvious frustration that some people (thankfully this does seem to be on the decrease) who ‘design for web’ have no understanding of what that means. One area sadly is those print designers who end up doing a bit of web design ‘on the side’ which quickly becomes more than the side. As I have sat in both the developer and designer camp I know only too well the frustration of having to make up a design created by someone who is not aware of the medium they are designing for. One of the major areas often designers who do not know the web as a medium or code XHTML / CSS fall down on is realising the web is not print. In a website there are conventions you can work in and use to bolster your design. Link styles, navigation, the fluidity of the web as a medium - these all play a part and if you don’t understand them you can’t use them as tools to create your design.

What type of site you are designing also should be understood. Can you honestly think that a designer could create a good blog design without understanding what WordPress (or the blogging platform they are designing for) can or can’t do? Would they be able to know all the tools available to them and use them to their optimum? If a designer doesn’t even know what a CMS is or what commerce systems are how can they design a site that works for it. Of course, I’m not saying they have to be able to code these systems from scratch, but knowing what they do or don’t do and what functions they can use in their design, surely that is essential? I simply think it’s either a very very rare person or impossible for a designer to be able to only ever work in Photoshop and not even know how to code XHTML / CSS or what the mediums they are designing for can do.

Changes in response to coding.

If you are the designer of the code and making up the HTML / CSS you have the ability to interpret and develop your design in this phase. I never see a design fully complete until the HTML / CSS has been done as more often than not by going through the coding process it evolves. I feel designs mature through this process and for me to not have this part of the process in the majority of my work would be a shame. On those projects where I’ve not been able to do this I at least because I understand the medium can work with the developer and get solutions. My designs at the start are made with the understanding I have of the medium from being able to code myself.

Harsh but true.

I’m probably just like the 37 signals article not making friends in this post, but you know what I’ve sort of gone beyond caring on that one. For far too long the web has been seen as an easy design option that you do not need to know the relevant skills to design for. If we are ever as web designers to take it to the level of a full profession where skilled workers are recognised we have to take a stance. The web, HTML and CSS are not closed books and it does not take long to grasp a rudimentary ability in them - there can be no real excuse for a ‘web designer’ to not be able to do their own code.

I fully understand that sometimes the working process does not allow the designer to be able to produce the code - I guess my point really is ‘can they’ - if not they shouldn’t be designing for the web. It’s not that you do produce every line as this is a luxury I often have but some don’t, however if you can’t what on earth are you doing designing for the web? Print designers have to understand printing processes and what needs to be done to get something looking right in print. So why shouldn’t web designers also have to know XHTML / CSS and understand what a website is. When I design as someone that can code in XHTML / CSS I understand what I am designing for. To me that is a strong point and often the difference between a design working or not.

The Phone

I’ve had a few ‘odd’ bugs with the iPhone ranging from locking up when deleting emails through to about twice it not seeing iTunes, however nothing really major has gone wrong and that has been great. One thing I simply don’t get why isn’t there is the age old chestnut of copy and paste (I’m including in the phone here as to me it’s such a basic function I don’t get why not there). It frustrates me and is something I really wish they sort out sooner rather than later. Literally every patch now I’ve been hoping then let down by the lack of it’s inclusion.

Next up is the camera which I’d like to see improved a bit. To me, the iPhone should be an all in one mobile device. I want to not have to take the laptop, not take the camera and not take my phone - it’s so close to being that for me that with a simple upgrade to the camera quality and maybe the ability for flash and video then it would be pretty damn perfect hardware wise. I would love the edition of video capture, I’m not looking for taking a long film here, just a simple snapshot would do.

Perhaps one of the biggest issues I have found is if you indeed do ‘use’ the iPhone to any extent then the battery is quite poor with regards to lasting times. I understand there is a lot going on and have done the brightness reduction on screen to try and gain more battery life, but it seems unreliable on exactly how much it does and more than once has just died on me from seemingly a full battery to nothing in a very short time. One last thing in relation to the phone is to be able to have sound profiles. Now, I maybe missing some point here but I came from Blackberry land and not being able to assign sound profiles that I can customise myself just seems wrong. Ideally I would like it to go a stage further and be able to assign profiles based on time of the day - but just being able to have sound profiles would do. I do dream of being able to say from x to y hours don’t sound mail or phone and from x to y do.

Software

I have a few things I really would like to see done by Apple of a third party.

• To do lists off-line: Whilst the ideal for me would be syncing with Things, I understand this may not happen but any application that can get off-line syncing work outside of iCal would get my vote - even if they added priorities to iCal it would be a start rather than lumping them all and seeing to dos as calendar items.
• Notes categories: I love the notes function but it really needs some refining with a basic category ability maybe. I also long to be able to sync these notes or at least get them onto my mac without emailing them.
• PDF reader: This is almost the ‘killer’ app for me. Being able to read PDF’s and Ebooks on my iPhone really would transform how I do things. Enabling me to swipe highlight text and note it would also be great when reading PDF’s but I feel that may be a bit of a dream.
• Off-line gmail reader: I yearn for the ability to read my RSS off-line and sync just like I can on my macbook pro.
• Mail mark all as read / delete: This is a simple feature that Apple Mail has and I think the iPhone really needs. I have accounts that are not IMAP and having this would make my life a lot easier.

So how has the iPhone been for me?

My iPhone really has become the thing I carry all the time. I love it quite simply and give or take a few things that I really think would be good for it to have, the experience has been a really good one so far. It has made me realise in-fact I do not want pointless ring tones or the ability to play space invaders on my phone - I actually want a more functional device that fits to what I want to do. Whilst the things I’ve seen with people hacking there iPhone have given a moment of ooo to me, I really can’t see why I should need to do this. I will note that with the slowness of the SDK it’s been getting more and more tempting. I intend though on getting the next iPhone if not as soon as out fairly shortly after. My husband at the same time got a Nokia phone which he’s had nothing but problems with and he’s going to be the recipient of my current iPhone when I upgrade as he is fed up of the problems syncing phones on macs and has seen the ease of use the iPhone has given me. All in all I’m very glad I moved from Blackberry over to the iPhone.

Carrot on stick

One way I’ve found to get myself in a more active not reactive approach is to take the reward or ‘carrot on a stick approach’. For me, if there is something to be gained or I can see that gain then I’m more likely to do. The more unclear the gain the less likely it gets done. I’ve found that by assigning gains or at least cementing what the gain is to something (big or small, abstract or real) then I get this done.

More acting less reacting

One goal I’ve been working towards is where things are seen more before they come up and it becomes a more active process than a whacking each thing as it drops in my lap. I’ve got a combination of ways such as to do lists and for larger things breaking them down into chunks that I can see small gains as I go. I find having a generalised vague goal just doesn’t work for me - it has to be x gets y or it ends up with ‘x what x now? really? nah ooo shiny thing’.

Business as personal

For me, having a personal and business approach that varies just doesn’t work. I am lucky enough working for myself to dictate how I run my business to a certain extent and it has to be the same on both counts for me. I’m one of those people that blurs the lines between business and personal probably sometimes to my cost in hours and what I put into my work; that aside I treat both aspects of my life the same in terms of motivation. Perhaps this is because I am lucky enough to work in an industry that I would choose to for pleasure also to a certain respect. I apply the same set of goals and methods to my business as I do to my own life and really I think if you have any variation be it morals or how you ‘get things done’ then maybe one aspect of your life is being over looked. I just don’t get the concept of being organised in one and unorganised in another - before long the lacking one overlaps and takes over even the best laid plans.

Being your own motivation

Motivation comes in many forms. Nothing like a deadline or payment to get most people motivated, but is this really the only methods that work? I’ve found even small things like making a promised to myself of a Frappucino if I get a page of code done works for me. Daily I set rewards for myself like this which spur me on. I’m just like anyone if I don’t see anything in it for me what is the point? Of course rewards are not just material or drinkable. I often find say the reward of seeing a clear to do list really fulfills my need role of a ‘carrot’.

Which method works for you?

Ultimately it’s about finding a method that works for you. We may all work around the basic principles of carrots and sticks, but what sticks and what carrots we use are as varied as we are. My method I’ve worked on for a while and see being refined as I go along. I’ve probably used almost every to do list / project management package now there exists or near to it, before settling on the current solution which has worked for many months now. As I’ve said before your own motivation method and in-fact anything you do should not be set in stone it should be fluid enough to develop as you do. After all just like you hope to be around for a while you should hope your business does or your job. I honestly believe you will end up not getting anywhere fast if you just react as things come. You need to be acting upon plans and laying foundations of organisation not just fighting fires to get any real place in life and work. Days need structure, weeks needs structure and lives need structure. By having a structure you can react effectively if you have to as things of course inevitably ‘crop up’ but if you do not have this action of acting in place you’re just chasing your tail and never getting to a carrot - that just sounds depressing if you ask me.

• Fontstruct: an interesting online application where you can build, share and download fonts. I really like the editor and already have wasted far too much time on this, it’s a tad addictive.
• Somerfield.com: The illustrations of Barnaby Ward I just love with a mixture of alice in wonderland and anime fairy tale. I am going to be getting some of the Alice prints which I love.
• Childhood Fears: A little darker but a great series of photographs illustrating childhood fears. The tightrope walker is just down right creepy.
• Vinyl Wall Art: I’ve been looking for something to put on the new studio walls that isn’t the usual picture / framed poster and really want to try some vinyl art. I’ve also been thinking of doing a feature wall in the bedroom using these. You can see vinyl art in places like Etsy and Blik - Blik even have some unique Threadless collection.
• Zena Holloway: A unique collection of underwater photography that just amazes me. I love the way the materials flow underwater and the lighting is amazing.
• You License : What mood are you in? This allows you to find music by your mood. Really interesting and good way to find music off your radar but suiting to what you want to listen to mood wise.

There is really only one thing you need to keep in mind with Volume 3 and that is it features nothing but 9rules Member content. Every piece of content that you come across in every community is from one of our Members. The goal of 9rules is to present some of the best content from around the independent web to people who enjoy that kind of thing. - 9rules vol 3 edition 1

9rules your way

With so much wonderful content appearing before your screen we understand that not everything might pique your interests so we have allowed a bit of customization with regards to what content you see. - 9rules vol 3 edition 1

I love the concept of having customisation through both Chawlk and 9rules. These are separate entities but linked by the one umbrella organisation; members and readers. One of the big draws of 9rules both with member content and readers is the diversity. The social side of notes constantly has diverse topics and opinions which to me is a delight, it is very clear there is a wide range of people interacting with 9rules. The members themselves span such a wide range of blog topics that it really does become a glorious melting pot. Allowing customisation acknowledges the diversity and fact you can now have the content ‘your way’.

Splitting yourself in two isn’t always bad

This version sees a definite division between 9rules and the social side Chawlk. Whilst there are some that argue you have to keep it all under one personality I actually feel this splitting makes sense for many reasons and just one of these is the wealth of content. One of the things that perhaps 9rules suffered from before was in it’s popularity noise and gems could get lost a little. As a member my content is now focused heavily on the 9rules site and as a reader I can interact through Chawlk.

When I first heard of the split it was a light bulb moment, whilst I didn’t feel there was anything fundamentally wrong with 9rules I did feel the boundary between member and reader had blurred a little. With this split there is a move to make it clear what is a member and what is a reader, to me this is not a bad thing. The community aspect that started in notes and in the past version blossomed into a social network hybrid has now got it’s own home in Chawlk.

Anatomy of a design

Whilst this is not a full review of the new design I feel I have to comment on how much I love the use of space and readability of the new design. It to me really is a triumph of passive design that allows the content to be accessed without distracting. 9rules after all should be all about the content - that is not to say this isn’t a wow design as it certainly is. I like the understated and passive use of white space to create a comfortable design that just makes you want to read more. Reading and using the site is a pleasure so you just want to dive in and stay more.

Knowing when less is more

One thing above all becomes clear to me both through the splitting of 9rules and Chawlk and the new design and that is that Scrivs, Mike and Tyme in this version have not only done a lot of ‘wheat from chaff’ clearing, but have also done a lot of self critique. Mike says the following about the design:

The new 9rules is refreshing to me as a 9rules reader because it makes the content more accessible and is right up front. I don’t have to click from the homepage over to the “member entries listing” to find what I want, it’s right there. It sounds obvious, but straight-up usability was the goal from the onset because — dare I say — 9rules.com had been on a usability decline for over a year. - New 9rules design thoughts

This fact that laurels have not been rested on and boundaries constantly pushed along with the braveness that comes from analysing and admitting where could do better; these all amount up to a stronger design in my eyes. The team behind 9rules have listened to the good and bad along with developing their own internal analysis monologue. From this self analysis it has become clear what matters and they have distilled back to their roots. To me, this is a practice we should all be doing.

All grown up?

One thing I feel from this design both as a member and a reader is a maturity of 9rules as an entity. I’m aware in writing this I feel like the old woman of the web and may have to take up knitting. The design to me in it’s understated but ability to keep the wow factor really shows a maturity of design. To me as you progress as a designer you end up taking off along with putting on. One of the problems when you start out is that you have a kitchen sink approach. Whilst I did not feel past versions of 9rules had this, I do feel on seeing this that they indeed had a leaning to information over load compared to this format - I’m having one of those ooo that is better hindsight moments. The clarity of execution and small understated touches used throughout really do bring home to me a maturity of the team behind 9rules as what is 9rules becomes even more clear to me conceptually along with visually. The branding really has gained a refreshing strength.

Raising the bar effects members positively

When I first saw the design one of my first reactions was ‘oh great they raised the bar again… mutter… time to get boot up my bum and get this site worthy of membership’. I’ve been upfront about my problems over the past few months in posting both work and health. This new 9rules has really refreshed me in a time where I’ve grown tunnel vision just getting through days. I’m so proud to have that leaf up with this new direction or should that be return to the old with a twist. All they have done with this version can only positively effect members, it’s always a good thing to raise bars and give people something to raise their own bars in response to.

A thank you from a member

I’d like to take a moment to wrap this up with a thank you to Scrivs, Mike and Tyme for the obvious hard work this version has taken. I always have been a pom-pom brandishing advocate of 9rules but this version has relit a fire in me that was missing for many reasons over the past few months. I feel renewed as a member and excited to be part of the next chapter in 9rules. I’d also like to welcome the new members to 9rules and look forward to the next round bringing more members into the family that is 9rules.

Whilst I don’t usually like to go personal on this blog I feel that a bit of an update come explanation is due. I haven’t been writing at all compared to my usual schedule. There are several reasons for this and I’d like to take a moment to explain why I’ve fallen down the back of the blogging sofa. First up, I’ve just moved which in itself defined the word hectic. I’ve now got a lovely studio space that I’m realising the joy of as it’s attached to my new home - something so great about a large studio you just have to walk a short way to get to.

Along with this my illnesses have come to a peak, I am now waiting for an operation that I should have had years ago whilst I am stable and working well now I have found little time beyond working to commit to this blog. With the move though things really seem to be settling down as I wait for the operation. I plan on now resuming at least a post a week and will see where that goes. Thank you for all of those who stayed with this blog throughout the past few months of silence interspersed with the odd post. With that said let’s get a post done.

Space the human concept

As human’s we have a concept of person space which we seem to seek throughout our lives. We all know the uneasy feeling when someone not close to us invades that space. Our brains seems to have a notion of spacial barriers. In our lives we see good homes as having space, a vast majority of us crave space and “room to breathe”. By the very phrase “room to breathe” we are showing how important space is to us. In design space is just as important. There is always a lot of talk about white space and allowing design to breathe. Just like we need “room to breathe” so does a design.

Clutter ugly

Just think for a moment about the sites you don’t like. I would place money on them being the hectic ones that wouldn’t know white space if it fell on their head. Lack of space in a design is usually hand in hand with over working and too much content. The designer mantra is content is king, but there can be too many kings. Visually there has to be some space in a design for it to make sense. I always like to think of those ‘throw everything at it’ designs as the biggest examples of spacial abuse.

Padding it out

I’ve noticed lately that in my designs no section of content has under 15px of padding - most actually have above that. Good uses of padding lead to space comfort in a design. Often it’s also good to apply a ratio rule to this padding. An interesting use of this padding is in ratios. I’ve seen some very nice uses of this where you have say 30px for the top, bottom and sides and then internally use 15px for header spacing top and bottom. By using ratios you bring in visual hierarchy through spacing. This can produce some very nice spacial relationships in the design that guide the eye through.

Hitting the same point

I’ve laboured the point a little before about the importance of white space but there is a reason my mind is turning to it. Lately, I’ve been viewing a few designs that seem to ignore this basic principle of design. With all the web 2.0 madness some designers seem to have forgotten the ABCs of design - white space really is one of these. No matter what the design or scripting it’s done in, there simply is no excuse to not use white space. In the past I’ve gone through how I like to let designs distil over time and take away from the first versions in my design process. It is in this taking away things like white space come into play. If I look over the last designs I’ve done each and every one of them in the later stages had more space added as the design matured. Good use of white space really is design sensibility and misuse will always result in a lower quality design. Next time you design I’d suggest taking a stage in your revisions where you just focus on the spacial relationships of the design. This way you will soon find the weak and strong areas of the design and take it to the next level.

Whitespace is your friend

When I refer to whitespace this is of course space on the design and not in the literal sense. I see this is a key point of minimal design. The design is allowed to breathe and attention take with and element used and it’s relation in space to another. Margins and padding are a key to any successful minimal design. Often it’s a good idea to keep to a group of 10 rule with these, such as margins of 10, 20 or 40. A really good method is to have the outside ones larger and as you visually go ‘into’ the design reduce the spacing - you can also use lower and higher spacing to bring the eye onto elements that deserve more attention.

Success is in the small

Minimal design is most successful when it sees more of a focus on the small details rather than the large. Having breathing room in your design leads to enable other elements to take more of the focus. Some of the most successful minimal designs I’ve seen have one or two feature elements. From a navigation style through to a text treatment, these are the twists that take it beyond looking just unfinished. Often this on a blog could be the navigation and form styling. Form styling is one key area where a minimal design can bring usability and high end design.

Text focus

One of the key detail areas in minimal design is text. From line-heights to using font sizes and styling to accent areas of the design - text is your key visual element. Just by adding a simple border, line-height or subtle background you can focus elements on the page and bring the design up a notch. I like the use of blockquote in minimal design along with headers, to give another level of depth to the design.

Editing minimally

When working on a minimal design you really have to focus on editing your design. Often the first version will be less minimal and you get to the minimal core by editing and removing treatments. This design simmering is just like cooking as you are reducing it to the essence of the design as you work on it. Rather than more complex designs the key is removal.

Why minimal?

I’ve looked at a few essentials that make a minimal design, but why would you want to style minimal? Minimal designs really do chant the ‘content is king’ mantra. They focus on the information / delivery of the page rather than a visual wow. In return the message and design itself is often more powerful. It is a careful line to walk though, far to easily a minimal design can end up just looking unfinished. This is where paying more attention to the small things and getting pixel perfect is the key to a successful minimal design. Perhaps the prevalence of minimal design currently is in part a reaction to the over design we’ve seen with the fabled web 2.0. Personally, I find it refreshing and I’m looking to work on this site with a return to more minimal roots with it’s format. I’ve always felt minimal designs work wondefully on blogs and in many respects kept that in mind with the many flavours of this one. With my next design which is being worked on I want to take that to the next level and constrain back all elements that I use.

Green meaning

As is fairly known I’m a little on the obsessed side to do with the meaning behind colours, so lets have a look at what green means:

Green is the color of nature. It symbolizes growth, harmony, freshness, and fertility. Green has strong emotional correspondence with safety. Dark green is also commonly associated with money.

Green has great healing power. It is the most restful color for the human eye; it can improve vision. Green suggests stability and endurance. Sometimes green denotes lack of experience; for example, a ‘greenhorn’ is a novice. In heraldry, green indicates growth and hope. Green, as opposed to red, means safety; it is the color of free passage in road traffic.

Use green to indicate safety when advertising drugs and medical products. Green is directly related to nature, so you can use it to promote ‘green’ products. Dull, darker green is commonly associated with money, the financial world, banking, and Wall Street.

Dark green is associated with ambition, greed, and jealousy.
Yellow-green can indicate sickness, cowardice, discord, and jealousy.
Aqua is associated with emotional healing and protection.
Olive green is the traditional color of peace.

- Color wheel pro.com

My own personal evocations from the colour green hark back to nature. I see it as a calming colour - to a certain extent depending on tone. I also tend to prefer the yellow / brown tones of green rather than a bottle or forest green. I don’t tend to like a green colour with a lot of blue such as aqua either.

Green to me is a good colour to work with a muted palette but also great as an accent colour for instance with lime. It is also a warming colour in certain tones so makes a design welcoming but also easy to read. It works in dark and light tones - part of the appeal is it’s flexibility.

The problem with a favourite colour

To a certain extent having a favourite colour as a designer can be limiting and also narrow your vision. You have to be open to seeing the potential in any colour. Often you aren’t in control of the entire design brief your client gives - what if they want a red and blue site and you don’t like those colours? I tend to see the value in any colour as if you use tones even the most troublesome colour on the web can be tamed.

Preferred tones

I tend to prefer muted tones with a strong colour as a highlight if anything. Most of my designs reflect this even if using a range of colours. However, just like with colours you have to be open to extending beyond your personal safety zones and explore tones and colours you may not like. Sometimes the most successful designs come from extending beyond your boundaries.